Los Angeles Times

Will Smith and Aunjanue Ellis on their 'Ali-Frazier' moment in 'King Richard'

It wasn't supposed to go down in the kitchen. That was the one room in the Chatsworth home doubling as the Williams family Florida residence in "King Richard" that was off-limits to the filmmakers because the appliances and cabinet hardware hadn't been switched out to reflect the movie's mid-'90s period. So naturally, Will Smith and Aunjanue Ellis, the actors playing Richard Williams and ...

It wasn't supposed to go down in the kitchen.

That was the one room in the Chatsworth home doubling as the Williams family Florida residence in "King Richard" that was off-limits to the filmmakers because the appliances and cabinet hardware hadn't been switched out to reflect the movie's mid-'90s period.

So naturally, Will Smith and Aunjanue Ellis, the actors playing Richard Williams and Oracene Price, parents of tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams, went straight to the kitchen when it came time to rehearse a crucial scene in the film. Where else would they go? Think about your own home and where people gravitate during parties, where family and friends hold late-night conversations and where loaded confrontations like the one in "King Richard" transpire.

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